Schools to be rated on children's success in eight subjects

SCHOOLS will no longer be judged by the number of pupils scoring at least five C grades at GCSE including English and maths, ministers revealed yesterday.

PUBLISHED: 00:00, Tue, Oct 15, 2013

David Laws says English and maths will be double waited [GETTY]

From 2016, secondaries in England will be rated instead on children’s success in eight subjects.

The move is part of a major overhaul of league tables. The Government fears the current system encourages schools to focus too much on students at the C/D grade borderline.

Under the reforms announced by Schools Minister David Laws, the eight subjects will include English and maths plus three other English Baccalaureate subjects such as science, foreign languages, history or geography. Mr Laws said the remaining three will be “other high-value qualifications”. But English and maths will be “double weighted” to keep their importance.